Babar Saleem Swati of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) assumed the role of Speaker for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Thursday. The election session, led by the former Speaker Mushtaq Ghani, concluded with Swati, representing Mansehra, securing the position with 89 votes, outperforming Peoples Party’s Ihsan Ullah Khan’s 17 votes.
In a related event, PTI’s Surayya Bibi, hailing from Chitral, was chosen as the Deputy Speaker, receiving 87 votes against PTI-P’s Arbab Waseem, who got 19 votes.
The assembly’s proceedings began amidst disturbances caused by PTI supporters, leading to a delay exceeding an hour and complicating entry for the elected officials. In his role as Speaker, Mushtaq Ghani officiated the oath-taking for the new provincial legislators.
Notably, the Sunni Ittehad Council, supported by PTI, emerges as the dominant group in the KP Assembly, boasting 91 members. Other parties, such as JUI, PML-N, PPP, ANP, and PTI-P, also have representation, albeit in smaller numbers.
